The Jackdaw is more then a ship....

I
have been a fan of the series for years and each title is no disappointment. If
you loved the navel battles in AC3, you’re going to love Black Flag. Sailing
the seas is a blast, and exploring hidden coves and searching for buried
treasure is exciting and rewarding. During the main story I couldn’t help but
quit the memory because I found a treasure map and was compelled to find the
buried treasure. If the buried treasure didn’t catch your eye then the sea life
most definitely will. You can spot these activities using your trusty spyglass.
Whenever you see birds circling around, that means it’s possible to hunt some
sea life. With a hold of a button you are set out on a row boat complete with a
few crew members to give you shouting encouragement and a dozen harpoons. You
aim with the right analog stick, aim with the L1 button and throw with the R1.
If you hold in the aim button, your throw is more accurate. The game play
reminded me of the classic battle against the giant sea beast in Resident Evil
4. After you manage to kill the fish, you are rewarded with hunting materials
such as bones and hides. Sea life isn’t the only game you can hunt. You can
hunt, Wild Hogs, Deer, Crocodiles, Zealot’s and many others. You can use the
materials to craft many useful items such as rope darts, and sleep darts, and also
to craft cool outfits and useful upgrades

You
spend about 60% of the game sailing the seas but you can also explore cities
the old fashioned way. Cities like Havana and Kingston are alive with people
walking the streets. You can collect sea shanties, which were similar to
Benjamin Franklin’s almanacs but they give you sea shanties which you can
command your crew to sing with a touch of a button. You can accept the classic
assassination contracts to be reward with money and some cool items. I loved to
just walk around the ports, watching people fish and catch crabs and watching
my crew mug about waiting for me to take the wheel. These simple distractions
kept me coming back for more.